Lift truck platform



y 1960 R. c. JOHNSON 2,936,986

LIFT TRUCK PLATFORM Filed May 29, 1957 FIG. 2

FIG.4

INVENTOR. RICHARD C. JOHNSON ATTORNE Y FIG. 5

2,936,986 Llr'r TRUCK PLATFORM 2,936,986- Patented May -1731.19.60

ICC

resides in the combination and arrangement of parts Richard C. Johnson, Hubbard, Ohio, assignor to The Powell Pressed 'Steel Co., Hubbard, Ohio, a corporationofOhio Application May 29, 1957, Serial N0. 662,428

6 Claims. c1. z4s-1zo This invention relates to a lift truck platform on which A further object of :the invention is the provision of a lift truck platform having a flat top surface supported.

on vertical side walls incorporating vertical and horizontal corrugations, each of which has a knee brace integrally formed therebetween.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a lift truck platform'having built-in knee braces as interconnecting portions of strengthening corrugations formed in said platform. i

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a lift truck platform having corrugations in the vertical and horizontal portions thereof and knee braces interconnecting said corrugations and wherein the metal of said platform is of uniform thickness throughout said corrugations, knee braces and adjacent portions of the platform.

The lift truck platform disclosed herein comprises an improvement in the art relating to material handling platforms which are widely used in industry and which platforms are cold formed from a single sheet of steel with corrugations formed with the grain of the steel to afford greater strength.

The corrugations in a typical platform are 1%";wide by deep and spaced 6" on centers longitudinally of said platform and incorporate knee braces defining a 45 angle between the innermost portions of said corrugations at the junctions of the horizontal portion of the platform and the vertical side sections thereof.

Such platforms as heretofore known in the art have provided corrugations for strengthening the same and have sometimes provided knee braces in the form of separate metal sections welded to the inside corners to lend rigidity to the structure and prevent fatigue and fracture between the bend and the horizontal and vertical portions of the platforms.

and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

ins, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lifttruck platform formed in accordance with theinvention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail of. a corner .of a blank being formed into a lift truckplatform.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of a corner of a blank illustrating the formation of the knee braces therein. Figure 4 is an enlarged detailed view of a corner of the blank showing the horizontal and vertical corrugations formed therein joining the knee braces.

Figure 5 is a vertical section taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4. 1

By referring to the drawing and Figure 1 in particular it will be seen that a lift truck platform is disclosed which includes a horizontal platform 10 'andvertical legs 11 at either sidethereof and extending longitudinallythereof, the right' and left ends 12, and 13 of the platform forming extending flanges. The platform 10, and more particularly the horizontal surface thereof,.has transversely extending corrugations 14 therein which join vertically extending corrugations 15 formed in thelegs 11', the corrugations 14 and 15 joining one-another at the right angular bends which define the junction-10f the platform Platforms heretofore known have had the common fault of structural fatigue and failure at said junctions of the horizontal and vertical portions thereof which was frequently due to the formation of a buckle in the corrugation when the vertical or leg portions of the platform were formed. 7

In the present disclosure a platform having a flat horizontal portion and straight vertical legs is provided with corrugations in the vertical legs and horizontal platform and the junction of the vertical and horizontal corrugations are modified by the formation of angular knee braces utilizing the metal previously buckled at these points so that an integral extremely rigid structure results.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention 10 and the legs 11.

The joining areas of the corrugations 14 and 15 shaped to define angular knee braces 16 which are, in effect, built into the corrugations and lie inwardly of the innermost surfaces thereof. The knee braces 16 are disposed on substantial 45 angles with respect to the platform 10 and/or vertical legs 11 and act to impart extreme rigidity to the structure and to prevent any bending along the bend line defining the junction of the legs 11 and platform 10. The knee braces 16 are formed in ;he metal blank in the course of formation of the platorm.

By referring to Figure 2 of the drawings it will be seen that a metal blank having a horizontal section 10A has been bent along a line 17 so that the edges of the horizontal blank 10A define vertical legs 11A.

In Figure 3 of the drawings knee braces 16A will be seen to have been formed into the adjoining portions of the horizontal section of the blank 10A and the vertical legs 11A thereof as by subjecting the angular comers of the platform blank to the action of appropriately formed dies in a press capable of shaping the metal, as illustrated.

In Figure 4 of the drawings the blank 10A and legs 11A have been subjected to a further stamping operation between appropriately shaped dies in a suitable press to impress the horizontal corrugations 14 and the vertical corrugations 15 therein in axial alignment with the kneebraces 16A previously described.

The lift truck platform is thus completed to take theshape shown in perspective view in Figure 1 of the drawmgs'and in enlarged detail in Figure 4 of the drawings. and in cross sectional detail in Figure 5 of the drawings. and wherein the knee braces 16 exist at every corrugationand the upper horizontal platform 10 is fiat both longi-- tudinally and laterally of the platform and whereby the" steel of the blank is maintained in even thickness com-- pletely across the knee brace and corrugations at the bend defining the junction between the platform 10 and: the legs 11.

are

The invention is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawa formed therein as hereinbefore- 3 It will occur to those skilled in the art that stake attachments, flat top sheets, cutaway legs, bumper channels and lift truck forkportals may be added to the basic structure thus provided without departing from the spirit of the invention and thereby render the lift truck plat form usable for a variety of purposes.

It will also occur to those skilled in the art that material handling boxes may be mounted on the platforms thus formed so that material handling boxes for various types of material handling boxes result, all of which have the desirable structural characteristics of the lift truck platform herein disclosed.

It will thus be seen that the several objects of the invention have been met by the lift truck platform disclosed herein. I

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A lift truck platform comprising a horizontal platform having vertical legs and corners therebetween, spaced interconnecting horizontal and vertical corrugations running. transversely of said platform and vertically of said legs, wherein the joining areas of said horizontal and vertical corrugations are disposed inwardly with respect thereto to form angularly disposed knee braces between said horizontal and vertical portions of said corrugations.

2. The lift truck platform as set forth in claim 1 wherein said platform is formed of steel and the same is maintained in an even thickness completely across said platform, legs, corrugations and knee braces therein.

3. A lift truck platform comprising an integral structure of sheet steel having a horizontal portion and depending continuously extending legs along two sides thereof, wherein continuously extending corrugations are formed transversely of said platform and vertically of said legs throughout the area of said platform in spaced 4 relation to one another and wherein integrally formed knee braces extend in angularly disposed relation between said transverse and vertical corrugations inwardly of the same.

4. The lift truck platform set forth in claim 3 and wherein the sheet steel from which said platform is formed is of even thickness throughout said platform and leg portions and throughout said corrugations and knee braces.

5. The lift truck platform as set forth in claim 3 and wherein the upper surfaces of said horizontal section is transversely and longitudinally flat, and wherein said 1 corrugations are located below said transversely and longitudinally fiat surface, and wherein said knee braces are located below and beside said transverse and vertical corrugations, respectively.

6. A supporting structure comprising a rectangular section of sheetmetahthe longitudinal edges of which are flanged downwardly to form legs, a plurality of longi-, tudinally spaced inwardly disposed knee braces formed between said rectangular section and said legs, and Wherein channels extend transversely in said rectangular sec-. tion between oppositely disposed pairs of said knee braces and wherein vertically disposed secondary channels extend downwardly in said legs from each of said knee braces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,508,898 Smith ....a Sept. 16, 1924 1,803,416 Walp May 5, 1 931 1,861,100 Stanitz May 31, 1932 2,256,750 Rier'ne'nschneider Sept, 23, 1941 

